The exhibition Golden Tree at Meän Gallery

The existence of trees makes life on Earth possible. Trees are a vital part of nature’s cycle, and the simplest example of their importance is that we breathe the oxygen they produce. Travellers come to Finland and the North because of nature, but many specifically come to admire the forests. Finland is the most forested country in Europe, yet less than 3% of its forest area remains in a natural, old-growth state. Not even many Finns know what a true, untouched forest looks like.

Every painting in this exhibition features a tree in one way or another. My dearest favourites, the ancient pines, are particularly well represented. I have wandered through that less than three percent of Finland’s forests — the rare, old-growth woodlands — and captured what I have seen and felt. In many of the works, the trees create landscapes and moods reminiscent of a storybook (from Kuura ja Pyry, the nature-themed storybook). But each painting is a fragment of the ancient, northern forest. Into every piece I have preserved a part of that overwhelming feeling that rises in me when I move through old forests.

Anna Pakkanen is a Master of Arts, visual artist, and graphic designer who works at Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland.
More information: anna@annakatariina.com, 0407166026, www.annakatariina.com*